Vending Schedule as of April 1

Prime Sites: Live Lottery

The annual Live Lottery is held in mid-January. All returning and new trucks are invited to City Hall to participate in the lottery. At this event, trucks select the Prime site shifts they would like to occupy as of April 1.

To participate in the lottery, new trucks must demonstrate their plan to have a fully permitted and licensed truck ready by April 1 of the same year.

New and returning trucks must apply for the lottery at Boston City Hall, Room 603.

Non-Prime and Remaining Prime Sites: Mini-Lotteries

In late February, OFI compiles a list of all available shifts, including:

Prime site shifts not filled during the lottery;

Prime site shifts forfeited by new trucks that participated in the lottery but whose truck won’t be ready to be on the road by April 1;

Non-Prime site shifts currently available; and

Non-Prime site shifts dropped by trucks (asked to tell OFI by late February).

This list is emailed in early March to all trucks still on track to start the vending season on April 1. Trucks are given a few days to consider the list and tell OFI which shifts are of interest. Shifts of interest to more than one truck are filled by mini-lottery.

December 21st (or next business day) – OFI holds mini-lotteries for all shifts of interest to more than one vendor and emails results to vendors

December 22nd (or next business day) – OFI emails all vendors their updated schedule for upcoming quarter

December 23rd (or next business day) – Vendors confirm schedule

December 30th – all vendors pick up, and pay for, Site Licenses.

In keeping with the Program’s mission of encouraging new Food Truck vendors, please note that in these mini-lotteries, new vendors (vendors who are new to the program and have not yet received any public sites) will be given priority for the first three sites they list on their add/drop form.

To add a shift mid-quarter:

Current Available Shifts

The online calendar is edited to reflect schedule changes.

To add a Prime site shift mid-quarter:

If interested in an available Prime shift, vendors can email OFI with their shift(s) of interest. OFI will address these requests on the 15th of each month (or the next business day), to be effective on the 1st of the following month. If, by noon on the 15th of the month, more than one vendor has expressed interest in an available shift, OFI will hold a mini-lottery for each Prime shift of interest. If only one vendor has expressed interest, that vendor will get that shift.

If a vendor is selected in a mini-lottery for a shift that conflicts with their current schedule, the vendor is able to drop the conflicting shift without penalty (assuming the vendor would not drop the shift if they hadn’t been selected in the mini-lottery).

In keeping with the Program’s mission of encouraging new Food Truck vendors, please note that in these mini-lotteries, new vendors (vendors who are new to the program and have not yet received any public sites) will be given priority for the first three sites they list on their add/drop form.

To add a Non-Prime site shift mid-quarter:

If interested in an available non-prime shift(s), vendors can email OFI with their shift(s) of interest. Non-prime shifts are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.

Announcements

Info Session for New Vendors

The Office of Food Initiatives will be hosting info sessions for new vendors in February, May, August, and November in the Boston City Hall in the BRA Boardroom (9th Floor) starting at 4:00 PM. We will provide a thorough overview of the Mobile Food Truck Program and provide an opportunity for asking specific questions.